TheFirstShallBeLast
by WhovianfortheDoctor
Summary: Steve and Dustin are having a bike race and someone does not come out of it unscathed.
1. Race

Chapter 1

„Hey, watch it!" a man yelled in a strange looking suit, as Dustin, Will, Mike, Lucas and Max raced past him on their bikes. El waited on the finish line to welcome the winner. It was close, at least for Dustin and Mike. Lucas and Max were a bit behind and struggled to keep up.

It was just inches, Mike was sure about that, but El was never wrong. So he sighed when she applauded Dustin and shook his hand.

„Dustin won!" she said smiling, but looking at Mike to make sure he wasn't too upset.

„What the hell are you doing?" they all jumped at the familiar voice.

„Steve... we.. ehm..." Dustin stuttered, looking at his friends for help. No one said a word tho.

„We were just riding our bikes." Dustin finally said, happy with his response. Steve just rolled his eyes and sighed.

„You'll get yourself killed some time!"

„Just because you always lost on bike races doesn't me you can stop us having some fun!" Lucas said and was instantly feeling the dead glare he got from Steve.

„Come again?" he started laughing, but he knew that Lucas was right. He was never good on a bike, but they were just kids, right? He wouldn't lose against them.

„So you want a battle of what?" Steve asked, looking in the round. Lucas suddenly found a really interesting spot on the floor to fix and also the others looked absently around. Just everywhere but to Steve.

„I think the winner should compete against him." Max broke the silence and looked to Dustin, who opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out.

„That's a great idea, Max! What's up, Dusty-bun. Are you afraid?" laughed Steve and patted the younger kid on the shoulder. He rolled his eyes at the nickname his girlfriend gave him. Steve knew exactly how to put him on edge.

„No! I'm definitely not afraid! I would beat you anytime! Let's do this, Steven." knowing that Steve hated to be called like that Dustin grinned and grabbed his bike to drive to the start line.

„So what's up, Harrington?" Dustin yelled, waiting for him.

„You don't have a bike." Mike noted.

„Yeah no shit Sherlock. Give me yours." Steve said and grabbed Mike's bike without waiting for a permission to actually use it.

As soon as he sat on the bike, he regretted agreeing to this race. The bike was way too small for him, so he had a hard time pushing the pedals, as his knees were almost hitting his chest when he sat down.

„He's screwed." stated Max as he watched the scenario.

„Yeah, at least he has enough money to buy me a new bike." scoffed Mike, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

When Steve finally made his way up to Dustin, he was already exhausted and sweating.

„You okay there?" asked Dustin, already sure he would win this race.

„Sure. Let's get this over with." Steve had to catch his breath, but was ready when El finally blew a whistle to start the race.

To everyone's surprise, Steve was starting faster than Dustin and was already a couple meters ahead of him. Dustin was panting hard and the distance between him and the older teen grew bigger by the second. Steve was more than surprised but that's when he made a mistake. He looked over his shoulder, to see where Dustin was and lost his balance. He tried to get his balance back but he was way to fast. So the handlebar of Mike's bike went uncontrolled to the left and that's when he knew what's going to happen.

„Shit." was the last thing he said before his belly connected with the turned handlebar and he fell hard to the ground.

He gasped for air, but it wouldn't reach his lungs. So he coughed, but that just sent a great amount of pain through his abdomen. He hissed, holding his midsection with his right arm.

The others just stared in blank horror, as their friend connected to the ground and didn't as much as groan.

„Steve!!" Dustin screamed and was the first one at his side.

„Steve, are you okay?" the kid shook his shoulder gently because he didn't want to hurt him more then he already was.

„Fine." was all Steve said. He still held his abdomen with one hand and pushed himself into a sitting position with the other. He had to hold back a cry and squinted his eyes. He tried to breath through it, but it did nothing for the pain.

Finally the others arrived and looked at Steve, shocked.

„What the hell, Steve! You're bleeding!" Lucas screamed hysterically, pointing at the teenagers head. Steve instantly touched his head where it hurt most and it came back red.

„Oh. It's not that bad." Steve was finally able to catch his breath and actually talk again. It still hurt like hell but he thought it was getting slightly better.

„Where are you hurt?" asked Max, not even trying to hide her worry for her older friend and babysitter.

„It's okay. I'm fine guys." Steve lied, reassuring no one but himself.

He tried to get up, all he needed was a hot shower and his bed and everything would be fine the next day. But as soon as he was standing, his vision started to get blurry. He blinked, trying to clean the fog but it didn't work.

He swayed on his feet, holding his throbbing head.

„Steve?" he heard someone call his name, but he couldn't make out who it was. It felt like his ears were filled with cotton.

Suddenly it started to get darker and he felt incredibly dizzy. He felt himself connect with concrete once again, before everything went black.


	2. Aftermath

„Shit! Steve!" Dustin yelled as he saw his friend go down completely limp.

„What the hell! What's wrong with him?" asked Max worried, kneeling next to Steve's still form.

„We have to call an ambulance!" Will said somehow really calm and ran towards the next house to call for help.

„Steve?" Dustin finally tried to wake the older one up and shook his shoulder carefully. Steve remained still tho, didn't even flinch.

„Is he even alive?" Lucas asked and that sent cold shivers down everyone's spine including his own.

Max put a shaking hand under his nose while Dustin grabbed Steve's wrist to feel for a pulse.

The others waited impatiently, starring at their babysitter.

„He has a pulse!" Dustin finally said, smiling relieved. But the smile vanished immediately, as he looked into Max's eyes. She looked terrified.

„He...I can't fe... he's not breathing." Max stuttered, hands shaking even more now than before. Everyone just stood there for a second before they could react.

„Oh my god, no! He can't die!" Dustin yelled, tears running down his cheeks. He slammed his wrist on Steve's chest and silently begged him to just start breathing again.

„Help is on the way!" Will came back, breathless from running so fast. His eyes widened when he saw all of them crying.

„What... what's wrong?" he asked, afraid of the answer he might get.

„He's not breathing, Will!" he closed his eyes for a second, not believing what he just heard. But he didn't hesitate and kneeled beside Steve's head.

„Why is no one doing anything then?" he almost yelled, clearly overwhelmed by this situation. He didn't wait for an answer tho and took Steve's head and bent it back a little. Then he squeezed his nostrils together and opened his mouth. He breathed much needed air into his lungs and the others just stood there in silence, clearly surprised of what Will was doing. Of course they all heard of CPR and giving mouth to mouth but everyone was way to shaken up to think straight. They all were glad that Will kept calm, otherwise Steve would've died before the ambulance even arrived.

They watched Will giving mouth to mouth to Steve and prayed to god that he would just start breathing again. It already has been too long. Steve's body was completely still, except for his chest that went up and down every few seconds. They all would just be really happy if he could do that without Will's help.

Finally about 5 minutes later, Steve started coughing violently, laying on his side automatically.

„Oh thank god!" Dustin breathed out, laying one hand on Steve's shoulder.

„Hey buddy, you alright?" he asked softly. Steve finally stopped coughing and laid on his back again, breathing heavily.

„Steve?" almost everyone asked, starting to worry again.

„Still Hurt." El said, pointing to his abdomen. Steve started to drift off again, but Dustin wouldn't let him.

„No way! Will didn't just bring you back so that you can die again, okay?" his eyes started to fill with tears again and Mike sat beside him, lifting Steve's shirt. Now they knew, why the oldest was hurting so much. His abdomen was completely bruised.

„What the?!" Max took in a shaking breath.

They could hear the sirens coming, finally, because Steve's eyes closed again and his head lolled to the side.

It all happened very fast then. Three paramedics came out of the ambulance and rushed towards their protector and friend. They hooked him up on different machines and took his vitals. A saline infusion was quickly running inside his body through an i.v. in his arm.

„What happened to him?" a friendly looking paramedic turned to the group and knelt down in front of them.

„He lost his balance while riding my bike and fell onto the handlebar. He said he was fine!" Mike explained to the man. He just nodded and gave the information to his colleagues, adding some medical words he never heard about.

„Listen, we're taking him to Hawkins general. I'm afraid only one of you can ride with us." the group started discussing, but they were quickly interrupted by a familiar voice.

„I'm taking them. We'll follow the ambulance." they turned around and looked in the eyes of Jim Hopper. He wasn't looking at them tho, he couldn't take his eyes off the kid lying motionless on the stretcher, an oxygen mask placed over his mouth and nose. The mask steamed up at each breath he took, which was the only prove to Hopper that Steve was even alive. He looked way too pale.

The paramedic nodded and loaded the stretcher in the back of the ambulance.

„In the car, kids! Come on." Hopper instructed, quickly sliding behind the steering wheel and following the ambulance.

It has been three hours were they were all sitting in the waiting room of Hawkins General, impatiently hoping to hear something from Steve. Nobody has said a word after Hopper arrived and drove them to the hospital.

„Will you tell me what happened?" he finally broke the silence, speaking to no one in particular.

They were all starring nervously on the floor, playing absently with their fingers. Hopper raised an eyebrow and addressed to Dustin specifically, as he was closest to Steve.

„Dustin?" the kid winced, obviously nervous.

„Hey, I won't be mad at you, you know that, right?" he laid an arm around Dustin to comfort him and he really seemed to relax a bit.

„It was stupid. So stupid." he began, eyes filling with tears once again.

„Shh, it's ok kid." the chief comforted him, but Dustin shook his head.

„No, it's not! He and I were having a bike race and he fell off the bike and got hurt! If I didn't agree to this race, all of this wouldn't have happened!" he started sobbing, burying his face into his hands.

„That's not true! If I hadn't teased him about losing races all the time, he didn't even have the idea to challenge you!" Lucas interrupted, starting to cry as well.

„Bullshit! I allowed him to take my bike, MY bike! If I hadn't-„

„Stop it! All of you!" Hopper finally interrupted, raising his voice.

„It's nobody's fault, you hear that? It was an accident and accidents happen! Steve is old enough to make his own decisions. So stop feeling guilty about something that was clearly not your fault!" the few people sitting with them in the waiting room looked confused, but weren't saying anything.

Hopper looked the kids deep in the eyes until everyone nodded.

„Family of Steve Harrington?" Someone in blue scrubs and a lab coat asked and Hopper was glad about that distraction. He was never good when it came to emotional talks like that.

„Not Family, but all he's got." the chief finally stood up, shaking the doctors hands.

„Is he alright?" the kids asked all at the same time. The doctor looked confused at the six children standing up all of a sudden.

„I'm Dr. Langdon, Steve's surgeon." he introduced himself. The man was tall and looked slightly asian.

„Would you please follow me?" he didn't wait for a response and turned around to walk to his office. They were all following him without a word, looking like ducklings following their mother. Dr. Langdon opened a door and led them all in. There were only two guest chairs inside, one chair was for Hopper without a doubt and the other one took Dustin. Also without a doubt, if you'd ask him. Lucas, Will, Mike, El and Max were leaning on the wall opposite to Dr. Langdon.

„So what's going on? Is he okay?" the chief asked, suddenly extremely worried about Steve.

„Mr. Harrington suffered from a severe blood loss, coming from a ruptured spleen. Unfortunately the cut was to big to fix it again, so we had to remove the whole spleen." the doctor noticed how shocked the kids looked and hold up a hand.

„Don't worry, he can live perfectly normal without a spleen. He won't even notice that it's not there anymore." they all let out a breath they didn't know they were holding and listened carefully again.

„Furthermore, he suffered from a mild concussion and he had to get a few stitches to close the wound just above his brow. But to make it short for you guys, he will make a full recovery again." the doctor smiled, but looked at Hopper, smile fading. The chief knew what that meant, he did that a lot to victims and their families when there was something the others shouldn't know about.

„Would you please wait outside? I have to ask the doc something." Hopper kindly asked the kids, hoping they wouldn't ask any questions. Luckily they were too busy being happy about the news and walked out of the office.

As soon as they closed the door behind them, Hopper turned completely serious.

„What's wrong, doc?" the doctor sighed, not sure how to tell the missing part of the story.

„Look, Mr. Harrington lost a lot of blood and his heart gave out twice on the operation table." Hopper sucked in a breath, but didn't say anything.

„Luckily he's a real fighter and he came back both times. We were able to stop the bleeding and gave him four blood transfusions to restock his blood volume. He reacted pretty good to it and stabilized rather quickly considering the blood he lost. I wasn't lying when I told the kids that he'll be alright again, but it will take time. He'll be very week the first few days, so don't be too worried about that. Unfortunately we also cracked some of his ribs during CPR, which will increase the pain further. But we'll make sure he gets enough painkillers." Hopper waited a second, not sure if there was more to come. But Dr. Langdon was finally finished and led the police chief to the door.

„Thank you for telling me the truth." Hopper thanked him and shook his hand.

„Of course. His room is on the third floor, number 228." the chief nodded and tried to smile again, when he looked at the kids.

„Can we see him now?" Dustin asked impatiently, stepping from one foot to another.

„Yes, come on. I'm sure he's happy to see you."

„He looks so pale!"

„Yeah, like he's not even alive!"

„Stop saying that! That's rude!"

„Shhh, he's sleeping, morons!"

Steve could hear every word they were saying, but somehow couldn't open his eyes. He tried really hard, but his whole body ached just thinking about moving his eyelids, so he dropped it and fell into a slumber again.

30 minutes later he was finally able to lift his heavy eyelids, looking into seven worried faces.

„Steve! You're awake!" Dustin beamed.

„Wha.." his throat felt like it was burning and he started coughing. That sent white, hot pain through his abdomen and he almost blacked out from it. Luckily Hopper already called the nurse, so she injected him something through his i.v. and he fell asleep only a few seconds later.

„Why is he hurting so much?" El turned to Hopper silently and looked at him confused.

"I thought he is alright." she added, looking sad.

„He will be. It just takes some time." he sighed, trying to be strong for the group. He was worried sick himself, but couldn't show it to them. It would freak them out even more.

„He will be alright, just be patient." he told more to himself then the kids.

Steve was out of it for most of the days and it drove everyone nuts. It took 5 days for him to actually be awake for more than two hours.

„Are you feeling better?" Will asked, sitting on a chair next to Steve's bed.

„Yeah, it's getting better. I was able to stand up and even walk a few meters today!" Steve smiled, but it was a sad smile. It was definitely an improvement, but wasn't he a healthy teenager? It shouldn't be such an achievement to walk a few meters. But there he was, laying in a hospital bed, completely exhausted from walking just a few meters.

„Hey, you'll be fine okay?" Will tried to comfort him and it even worked a bit. He knew he'll be hurting for some time, but he has good friends which will gladly be helping him feel better.

„Will?" Steve said, looking him straight in the eyes.

„Thank you for saving my life." no more words had to be added to that. Will carefully gave Steve a hug, and they both shed a tear.

Steve was feeling very thankful, maybe the accident had something good in the end. He respected life even more now, as he knew it could be over way too quickly.


End file.
